At this point, this is obviously old news since it broke last night. But I just wanted to weigh in and say that this is absolutely the right move.

Did they overpay? Sure. Though David Ortiz is still very productive when healthy.

But this is the guy that looked the Yankees in the eye in 2004 when they were down 0-3 in the series, and unlike all of his predecessors for 86 years, refused to break under pressure.

While Papelbon was wrong if he meant that Ortiz is better than Ted Williams (he most certainly isn't), I think there's an argument to be made that Ortiz was more important to the Red Sox. He is the one most responsible (though there are obviously many who are responsible) for changing the entire self-image of Red Sox Nation.

After a season of so much angst, they absolutely couldn't afford to let someone of his standing go.

Good start to free agency for the Sox. Now time to address about a half dozen other issues.

seems like a lot of money for such an old ball player. how much money do the sox have left?

TONS.

They have 42 million in guaranteed contracts. Plus Ortiz now brings it to 55 million.

Now they do have 11 arbitration eligible players, including Ellsbury, Morales, Bailey, Aceves, and Bard, but even if we were to say that takes 20 million to keep them, they'd still only be at 75 million.

Given that this team has had payrolls as high as the upper hundred millions in the past, they could spend another 100 million dollars this offseason if they so choose.

Personally, I'd like to see them not do that. They need to eventually spend that money, but they need to do it smartly, particularly on getting an ace for the staff. But if they can't do it this year, they should wait until they can. They absolutely shouldn't spend for the sake of spending.

Unfortunately, Red Sox Nation is impatient, and there's already rumblings that Henry and Co. aren't spending enough on the team now that they bought their European soccer league team. Hopefully, they don't overpay just to placate the fan base. That's how they got into this mess to begin with.